The visa-on-arrival service of Azerbaijan is provided to citizens of Qatar, among other countries, as well as to expatriates possessing a valid residency permit from Qatar. Informing this, a statement from the Azerbaijan Tourism Board (ATB) said the Caucasus country has launched several innovative reforms such as the new simplified electronic visa procedure to ensure travellers' convenience.

"Azerbaijan is currently on the cusp of a tourism boom as it welcomed a record number of in-bound visitors spending more than $2bn in 2018, making it one of the fastest growing tourist destinations in the world," the statement noted. Since the introduction of the ASAN visa system, tourists can obtain a visa in three simple steps (application, payment and download) from the convenience of their home or on their mobile device.

Tourists should visit www.evisa.gov.az, the official e-visa portal of Azerbaijan, which serves travellers in nine languages. At present, nationals of 95 countries are eligible to apply for an e-visa. The list of countries can be found at https://evisa.gov.az/en/countries.

Emergency visas can be issued within three hours at an additional cost, while group visas can also be obtained through the portal.

Since May 15, 2018, visas issuance and processing take under two minutes with the support of ASAN visa staff and self-service terminals at the Baku, Ganja, Gabala and Lankaran international airports. Staff at the airports assist tourists in Azerbaijani, English, French, Spanish, German, Turkish, Hindi, Arabic, Farsi, Hebrew, Urdu, Norwegian and Russian.

In less than a year, since the launch of the ASAN visa system, around 1,191,000 tourists have received visas to travel to Azerbaijan. This year, the number of tourists applying for e-visas to Azerbaijan has increased by 72% compared to the same period last year, the statement adds.

The ASAN visa system was created according to a decree by Ilham Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan, on June 1, 2016.